And in the case of Dish Network’s AutoHop technology, which allows digital-recorder users to
skip commercials while playing back programs from the four major networks, the price might be
higher than advertised.

Those commercials we all love to hate, after all, pay for the “free” programming we don’t want
interrupted.

Great. You won’t need the Hopper, which, interestingly enough, isn’t available for shows on
ad-supported cable, which tends to have even more commercials than ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC.

Now, on to the rest of us, who, the Nielsens show, are still watching broadcast television, even
if the “big four” aren’t quite as big as they used to be.

How much are you willing to fork over for
NCIS?
The Good Wife?
The Big Bang Theory?

CBS, one of the networks that sued Dish over the Hopper, has already indicated a possible
solution.

CEO Les Moonves was asked by an analyst a few months ago whether there was any way he could see
trading the money that CBS gets from advertisers for payments from companies with ad-skipping
technology.

“I suppose, if Dish wanted to pay us $5 a (subscriber), we might consider letting them do that,”
Moonves told the
Los Angeles Times.

If broadcasters decide to walk away from services with commercial-skipping technology, viewers
could find themselves rigging up digital antennas to catch their local news.

If they stay, subscribers who have seen their bills rise steadily with the growth in cable
networks will almost certainly pay more.